


Blinding Lights

by Lee_Sleeveen



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Romance, not cannon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:47:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24900298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lee_Sleeveen/pseuds/Lee_Sleeveen
Relationships: Oliver Queen & Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 98
Kudos: 137





	1. Chapter 1

**BLINDING LIGHTS**

CHAPTER 1 – BROKEN GLASS

"Excuse me. Excuse me. Hey buddy, move along let a lady past."

It was another busy night in Verdant, the Glades most popular/only nightclub and Felicity Smoak was not in the mood. Truth be told she was tired from working at Queen Consolidated in the day then busting her chops waitressing at night but those MIT college debts wouldn't pay themselves. She enjoyed the social aspect of her job at Verdant and had made friends with the regulars, plus she liked her co-workers much better than the ones she had at Queen Consolidated. She shivered as she thought of her supervisor, Creepy Carl and the way he leched at her and stared at her breasts. Not like her manager at Verdant. Roy was very very _very_ attractive. With his cropped brown hair, rippling pecs and his penchant for wearing skin tight t-shirts he had most of Verdant's female patrons fawning over him. Felicity bit her lip as she thought about him taking his shirt off at the end of a busy shift. _Shame_ she thought as she was also pretty confident that Roy was gay.

"Felicity!"

She was quickly brought back to her senses by the very person she was fantasising about. She thanked her lucky stars it was dark in the club as she could feel the warmth in her cheeks as she blushed.

"VIP section needs more champagne"

Felicity groaned. She loved the job but hated the VIP section. It was consistently filled with self-entitled, arrogant playboys who treated her like their personal skivvy.

"I don't care. Take that bottle & those glasses asap."

Damn, Roy was even hotter when he was bossing her around. As instructed, with a bottle of Dom Perignon in one hand & a tray of glasses in the other, Felicity made her way around the floor towards to VIP section, nodding and mouthing "Hi" to a few of the familiar faces. The VIP section was slightly more elevated than the other seated areas with plush emerald green couches. Felicity caught site of the occupants and groaned again. There were 2 guys, playboys by the looks of it, surrounded by too many women for Felicity's approval. Curtis, her friend and the bartender at Verdant, called her a prude. Maybe she was, but Felicity knew hangers-on when she saw them & these _ladies_ if you could call them that were definitely hangers-on. She slowly but carefully climbed the few steps that curved round to enter the raised platform but just as she reached the top one of the _harem_ threw out her arm, scattering the glasses.

"Frack!" exclaimed Felicity, trying to save the few that hadn't smashed on the floor.

"Ow my hand!" wailed the brunette with the uncontrollable arms.

"Nothing wrong with your hand" mumbled Felicity as she scrambled to pick up the larger pieces of glass.

"Hey, you need to be more careful" one of the playboy's piped up.

"Ow" she hissed as a piece of glass dug into her finger.

"Are you alright?" came a deep, gravelly voice. She looked up slightly and straight into crystal blue eyes. She saw sandy blonde hair and the kind of jawline that could have cut glass, if they hadn't been smashed already. Even in her annoyance she had to admit that up close this guy was smoulderingly handsome.

"I'm fine. No thanks to your friend" Felicity was bitter. She felt like a fool.

"I'm sure it was an accident"

"Sure" She clipped "I'll go get a broom & sort this out. You might want to tell some of your girlfriends to put on shoes" she nodded to a few of the girls lounging on the couch where the playboy had just been sitting. As she stood to take the tray with the broken pieces back to the bar and get more glasses, the black haired playboy, who was comforting the clumsy brunette yelled "Hey Coco, hurry back." The group laughed.

She was humiliated. She wanted nothing more than to take the champagne bottle and pour the liquid all over his head before dropping the bottle on his smug face.

"Bastard" she mumbled under her breath in Hebrew as she made her way back to the bar.

"What happened?" Roy eyed her as she returned, smashed glass covering the tray.

"One of the bints over in the VIP section knocked the tray. Don't make me go back there. I feel like such a dick."

"Ask Curtis nicely, maybe he'll take them over. I'm sure he won't mind being amongst all those beautiful ladies"

"Pfff, I think ladies is a bit strong" she huffed.

"Don't be jealous Felicity, green doesn't suit you" Roy bit back "When Curtis gets back, why don't you both head out to the roof for a smoke?"

"I don't smoke" Felicity scrunched her brows at him.

"I know you don't, but you look like you could do with a break"

"Ugh, I just hate people who act like they're special and like they own the place"

"What, you mean like those guys?" Roy nodded over to the VIP section where Curtis was handing out glasses, beaming from ear to ear.

"Yeah those guys. Hugh Heffner & Larry Flynt."

"Well Felicity" Roy leaned on the bar, so close to her she could smell his cologne. The sweet and spicy scent of Grapefruit and Ginger was enticing. "Perhaps they act like they own the place, because they do."

Her eyes popped as her eyebrows shot up.

"Oliver Queen & Tommy Merlyn" Roy continued. "So the one on the left is your boss twice. That's Oliver Queen. I'm surprised you haven't met him before considering you work at the family business."

"Well the Top Brass don't regularly visit the IT department."

"Ok, I'm back. Roy you promised me a break?" Curtis smiled hopefully at Roy.

"Yes I did. Go. Take her with you" he nodded to Felicity. "Ten minutes, no more."

Curtis & Felicity made it out to the roof and Curtis lit up a cigarette. Felicity breathed in the second hand smoke. She wasn't a smoker herself but she did love the smell which she knew was unusual. Her Grandfather was a smoker. It killed him in the end but the smell still brought back fond memories of visiting her Grandparents home.

"Don't let the bastards grind you down" Curtis breathed, looking far into the distance of Starling City. The lights of the bustling city shone brightly and filled the night sky. She followed his gaze, her eyes falling on the enormous Queen Consolidated building.

"Do you know who those guys are?"

"Oooh yeah. Oliver Queen & Tommy Merlyn, Starling City's millionaire heirs to two of the biggest companies in the city. And you" he turned to Felicity "do not like them. At all"

"That obvious huh? The Tommy one called me Coco. Like Coco the clown"

"Ha!" Curtis let out on loud laugh, smoke billowing.

"It's not funny!"

"Er, yeah. It is."

A loud noise came from below, pounding music and voices, laughing, squealing. The pair looked down to see the playboys and their entourage exiting the club.

"Well, that's one less thing to be bothered about" Curtis shrugged.

_Yeah, til next time_ Felicity thought.


	2. Buzzkill

CHAPTER 2- BUZZKILL

"Felicity" called Roy as she was stacking glasses behind the bar. She popped her head up looking like a blonde bespectacled Whack-a-Mole and her eyes met those intense blue eyes she'd seen before.

Frack she thought as she blinked and ducked back behind the bar. She stood up, hoping she was a little more composed this time and Roy placed his hands on the granite counter.

"Felicity, this is Oliver Queen"

"We've met." Oliver's eyes twinkled as he smiled & extended a hand. "I'm surprised they let you stack the glasses."

She was startled he'd even remembered her or the incident. It had been weeks ago and Oliver had been out of sight, out of mind. She felt a little sick as her stomach did somersaults. Damn he was an arrogant prick. She cleared her throat & stuck out her hand. "Hi. Felicity."

"You looked familiar when I last saw you. Is there anywhere I might have seen you before?"

"I doubt it" she said, a little too quickly. "I mean it's not like we would hand out at the same places. With you being super rich and all." She shut up as fast as she'd started.

"Felicity works at Queen Consolidated by day" Roy interjected.

"And by night I fight crime." It was a bad joke, but it made Oliver smile.

"I'll keep that in mind next time I'm up to no good." He looked directly into her eyes and she felt a lump start to form in her throat. "So what do you do at Queen Consolidated, Felicity?" He leaned onto the bar.

"IT. It's not interesting" Get it together Smoak! This is his company you're talking about.

"OK. Good to know. Probably why I've never been down to IT" Wow, this guy is a jerk even if he was handsome. "Perhaps I'll make an exception and come in now that I know you're there" Oooh Mama. Her mouth was dry.

"That would be nice, if you came in me" Her jaw dropped. "If you came in to see me" she corrected quickly, but evidently not quickly enough. Roy was laughing so hard his sides were splitting as Oliver gave her a suggestive look. Felicity begged for the floor to open up and swallow her.

"Oh my god" Roy gasped "Felicity you better go on your break before you actually kill me."

She didn't need to be asked twice. She put her head down and speed walked to the ladies room. There she stared at herself in the mirror before giving herself a slap. What an idiot! She knew she was the Queen of Freudian slips but that one was off the scale. How long would she have to wait in there to be sure Roy and Oliver had gone? There's no way she could even look at Oliver after that.

Twenty minutes passed and she knew, like it or lump it, she'd have to leave the bathroom at some point. She took a deep breath and steeled herself before heading out. No one was there. She exhaled loudly.

"No way" Curtis was gobsmacked when she told him what she'd said "Felicity you are the worst"

"I know" she cringed.

"I hope for your sake it was a flying visit and he won't be hanging around the club tonight."

Curtis couldn't have jinxed it more if he'd tried. Not only was Oliver in the club but he was around the staff all night.

"He wants to see how it all works" Roy had told her when she'd whinged to him.

"It's obvious how it works isn't it? People order drinks, we give them drinks. It's not rocket science"

"You'd know"

"No. I'm a Computer Scientist, not a Rocket Scientist, but I probably could be if I applied myself" She moved out from behind the bar to scan the room for empty glasses.

"Felicity!" She spun round to see who was calling her name.

"Nyssa!" She gave her flatmate a big hug "You look amazing." She really did. Nyssa had sleek long black hair and was wearing a figure hugging red leather dress with a black belt.

"Why Thank You. I aim to please."

"How's your date going?" Nyssa had messaged earlier to say she had a date. She brought most of her dates to Verdant. Partly because she'd have a friendly face if it all went wrong and partly to challenge them with coming to the Glades. It wasn't known to be the safest part of the City by a long chalk.

"Ugh not great. Can I trade him in for that hunk?" Nyssa was eying up someone to Felicity's right. She had a fair guess it was Roy but to her surprise it was Oliver whom Nyssa was looking at like the last piece of Chocolate Brownie.

"Really? Oliver?" Nyssa tended to go for a few more tattoos and a lot more muscle. True Oliver had something about him, but Nyssa was more of a rough and ready kind of girl.

"Oh yeah. Check out that sexy smoulder. Do you know him?" Oliver looked over towards them and gave her a little nod. Her cheeks caught fire. "Oh my, he's looking right at me". Nyssa hadn't waited for Felicity's answer. "I'm going to talk to him"

"What about your date?"

"He drove here, so he can drive himself home."

At least he's not watching our movements anymore thought Felicity as Nyssa and Oliver cosied up in one of the booths to the side of the dance floor. She could see Nyssa pulling all of her best moves, stroking Oliver's arm and flicking her hair. She waved to Felicity to come over and reluctantly she did so.

"This is my friend Felicity, she works here"

"Yeah, I've been inside here a few times now" His choice of words were deliberate and she felt sick and embarrassed.

She changed the subject. "Can I get you guys some drinks?"

"Negroni for me. Oliver?"

"Club Soda. I'm trying to keep a clear head tonight"

"Oh that's no fun" Nyssa teased pulling Oliver's attention back to her. Not wanting to be a third wheel, Felicity left to get their drinks. As she made her way through the crowded room she felt a hand graze against her thigh and across her bottom. Turning quickly she saw a man she didn't know leering at her.

"Alright honey, fancy a dance?" He grabbed at her waist.

"Nope. No Thank You" she put her hand to his chest to push him away. It didn't work. He pulled her closer and grabbed at her ass. I don't think so buddy she thought.

She slid her hand down from his chest. He probably thinks he's in for a good time. Well, I don't. She pulled her elbow back and aimed a fist at his crotch. Bullseye! He loosened his grip and took a step back gasping.

"I'll have you for that you bitch!" and he took a determined step towards her. I don't think so! As he came closer she steeled herself until he was close enough for her to hear him breathing. She jabbed at his neck with the side of her hand and raised her knee forcefully connecting again with his testicles. He crumpled in a heap on the floor. As Security arrived to escort the injured fellow out Nyssa came running to Felicity's side, followed by Oliver.

"Oh my God Felicity, are you ok?" Nyssa asked, concern in her eyes.

"Yeah I'm good. Nothing I haven't dealt with before"

"When you're out fighting crime at night?" Oliver grinned from behind Nyssa

"Ha, yeah. Something like that" she blushed.

"Felicity is feistier than she looks, you'd do well not to underestimate her."

"I'll be sure not to" his eyes bore into her and she felt like her whole body was on fire.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Nyssa questioned once again.

"Yeah totally fine! Dig and the security team have got my back"

"If you're sure…" Nyssa turned to Oliver and rubbing his arm she asked seductively "Can you see me safely home?"

"Of course" he looked down at Nyssa before turning back to Felicity. "You're sure you're ok?"

"Guys, totally fine" she reassured him before Nyssa led him off. He took a backwards glance towards her. She didn't see it, already busy back at the bar.

"You know it bothers me that you walk home alone." Roy stated as he locked the Verdant door behind him.

"It's fine. It's only 2 blocks and I stay to the lit areas. I'll message you when I get home like I usually do."

"Ha. Are you sure you want to go home considering Nyssa took Oliver back? Bom Chicka Wow Wow"

"I don't know what's worse? The thought of that or how outdated that reference is."

Going home to a very loud Nyssa banging her boss was not going to be ideal. Luckily she'd bought some noise cancelling headphones so she wouldn't have to hear them. As promised, Felicity stayed to the lit areas of the Glades as much as possible. It didn't help that a few of the street lights were busted. She turned the corner onto Allen Street and froze. Her path was blocked by three men, the middle one familiar as the man who's balls would probably need to be iced.

"We've got some unfinished business" he growled.

Clearly she thought. Trying not to show she was nervous or make any sudden movements she slowly slipped her hand into her purse to reach for her body spray. So it wasn't Pepper Spray but it would still hurt his eyes. He stumbled towards her, clearly the worse for wear and tried to grab her arm. Instead she elbowed him in the nose and directed the spray into his face with her left hand, the air filled with the scent of Japanese Cherry Blossom. The other two men started forwards and she saw the knife the one on the left was holding. She was starting to panic now. The man holding the knife suddenly cried out and fell forwards onto the ground, his head crunched into the concrete as he hit the floor. Felicity screamed as she saw the arrow sticking out of his back. Within seconds the other two assailants were also motionless on the path and Felicity ran. She ran as fast as she could, faster than she'd ever remembered running before and she didn't look back. She fumbled with the keys to her apartment door before pushing it open and running headlong into the bathroom where she subsequently threw up.

"Felicity?" A gentle knock on the bathroom door. "Felicity are you ok?"

"No" she whispered. How was she going to explain this to Nyssa without sounding crazy?

"Can I come in?"

Nyssa perched herself on the side of the bath as Felicity sat on the cool tiled floor and started to explain.

"So, out of nowhere those bastards got arrows in their backs?"

Felicity nodded.

"Well, sounds like they deserved it and this Archer person did you a favour. Lucky they were there. They saved your life. I hope you said Thank You"

Whilst it was true that the Archer had probably saved her life, it didn't make Felicity feel much better. She made herself a hot water bottle and settled in bed. She sent Roy her customary "I'm home" text. She debated on whether to mention the incident and decided against it. It would only worry him about her walking home, although in truth she didn't much fancy walking home again any time soon. She picked up her phone again and typed in Archer Starling City. Up came various news reports about a Vigilante who had been taking out criminals, not just in the Glades but all over the City. Felicity read every article she could find. None of them told her much other than there was a Vigilante who used a Bow and Arrow to tranquilise his victims. Once they were out cold he either delivered them to the Starling City Police Department or had the SCPD come and collect them. A Good Samaritan with a Bow and Arrow? As scared as she had been, as scared as she was, she felt herself become fascinated with this Vigilante. She needed to know more and she resolved to discover their identity.


	3. Black Coffee

CHAPTER 3 – BLACK COFFEE  
“Morning Sunshine. How did you sleep?” Nyssa sat at the breakfast counter with a steaming hot cup of coffee in her petite hands, her head titled slightly to the side.  
Ah the sympathetic head tilt thought Felicity as she tightened her robe.  
“Yeah, not great.” She adjusted her glasses and shuffled towards the coffee pot. Truth was she hadn’t slept a wink. She’d paced the floor of her room replaying the night over and over in her head, the sounds of the arrows thunking into the backs of her assailants, trying to form some sort of sense of how she felt about the Vigilante. One O’clock, Four O’clock the night had dragged out and the last thing she wanted to talk about it so she changed the subject, “Hey how were things with Oliver?”  
“Ugh, total bust. All I got was his phone number and a kiss on the cheek.”  
That didn’t sound like a bust to Felicity. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been kissed, or had a guy’s phone number for that matter. Where dating was concerned, she was going through a very long drought. She reached over to take the sugar from Nyssa.  
“So have you text him?”  
“Oh hell no. A girl’s got to wait at least 48 hours before touching base. I don’t want to seem too keen.”  
“But you are keen though, right?”  
“Of course! You’ve seen how hot he is. Hey, you never did tell me how you knew Oliver?” Nyssa quizzed.  
“He’s my boss” Felicity groaned, taking a sip of her brew.  
“I thought Roy was your boss?”  
“Well he’s my boss’s boss then. He owns Verdant” Felicity decided to leave out the part where he was her boss at Queen Consolidated too. She’d probably find out soon enough anyway if she called him.  
“You should tell him about what happened to you last night”  
“Absolutely not!”  
“Why? A group of men attacked you on the way home from work and you were saved by the Starling City Archer”  
“And that has nothing to do with Oliver. Also, hearing you say that makes it sounds crazy, so I’m not going to be telling anyone, ok? And where did you hear about the Archer?”  
Nyssa laughed, “Felicity I may not be a computer whizz like you but I do know how to use Google.”  
It was true, Nyssa wasn’t a “computer whizz” like Felicity and on the surface the pair had nothing in common. Tall, slender as a supermodel with poker straight black hair, Nyssa was a fitness and combat instructor, and the source of Felicity’s defence moves from the previous night. The combat part would come as a surprise to anyone who looked at Nyssa, one she used to her advantage. Her unsuspecting ability came in useful at many of her combat training sessions. Felicity on the other hand was small woman with a petite pear shaped body, bottle blonde wavy hair and wore glasses almost constantly. She was all brain and no brawn until she’d met Nyssa at the viewing for their apartment and they hit it off right away. Nyssa had taught Felicity some moves to keep her safe in the Glades and in return Felicity made sure their apartment had the best security and awesome tech. Nyssa had begged Felicity to put the lights on a clapper. She had refused but compromised by making them voice command instead.  
“I’m going back to bed. It’s my one day off this week and I am going to chill and watch movies all day” Felicity pulled a bag of chips from the cupboard and a chocolate bar “feel free to join”.  
“I’m good, I’m going to hit the gym soon”  
Felicity wondered if she would regret eating the entire bag of chips, but it didn’t stop her.  
***  
***  
“Hey Honey, I’m home” Felicity dropped her keys in the bowl by the door.  
“Good timing, can you come in here please?” Nyssa called from her room.  
“That sounds dodgy. Please tell me you’re not naked” Felicity laughed.  
“You’d love it if I were” Nyssa called back.  
Felicity made her way into Nyssa’s room. It was a light shade of duck-egg blue with white skirtings and on this occasion she had multiple items of clothing strewn across her bed.  
“Can you zip me up?” she motioned to her back as Felicity entered. “What do you think?” she twisted and turned to gaze at her reflection.  
“You look good! Maybe those shoes?” Felicity gestured to a pair of Black Lace Up mid-calf boots.  
“Yes, perfect! You’re a genius Felicity”  
“That is true actually. Did you call Oliver?”  
“I did.” Nyssa looked proud of herself “We’re meeting for a drink in about half an hour and I want more than a kiss on the cheek this time, if you know what I mean.  
Of course Felicity knew what she meant and her noise cancelling headphones sprung to mind. Looking at her Felicity was pretty confident they’d be needed. Nyssa had chosen a cobalt blue figure hugging square neck ruched dress with tiny straps. Felicity always admired Nyssa’s ability to pull off even the tightest of outfits.  
“How did you bump into Oliver anyway?” That’s what Felicity had told Nyssa when she’d encouraged her to make the call.  
“At work” she said absentmindedly as she searched for earrings.  
“You went back to Verdant today?”  
“No, at Queen Consolidated, he brought me coffee”  
Nyssa stopped fiddling with the Opal Droplets to stare at Felicity through the mirror “Oliver, brought you coffee at work? Why?”  
“He came to see if I was ok after the incident in Verdant, and also because he’s Oliver Queen”  
Nyssa dropped her earring. “Shut up! No way is he the Oliver Queen?!”  
“Yep. That’s him. I was surprised you didn’t recognise him” Felicity justified as she picked the earring off the rug beneath Nyssa’s feet.  
Nyssa was about to ask more questions when the buzzer sounded for their intercom.  
“I’ll go you might want to put that in” Felicity said as she handed her the earring. She left the room as the buzzer came again.  
He’s keen she thought as she left the room and headed toward the intercom system. She pressed the button on the machine to let him in and in no time he was knocking at their door. The shock on his face registered when he saw her.  
“Felicity I…you’re…here?”  
“Yup. I live here which you…didn’t know.”  
“I did not”  
“Well… now you do and I’ll go check on Nyssa.” Perhaps she was imagining it, but she thought she could feel his eyes following her as she left the room  
“How does he look?”  
“He looks good, and so do you. Now go!” Felicity shooed her out of the room like a Mother Hen and waited for them to leave before going to her own room. Now to hunt down the Vigilante. Her first port of call was to hack the Star City Chronicle.  
“Susan Williams” she muttered. Williams’ was the name that appeared on almost all of the articles about the Archer. “Let’s see your emails.” Emails were by far the easiest for her to hack into. “Nope. Nope. Nope” she repeated as she scrolled through. “Ah ha!” she exclaimed as she came across emails with the subject title Hero In The Hood.  
Susan. Intel for you. Incident in the Glades Saturday. The hood called in SCPD approx. 2:30am. No official footage e.g. CCTV just some rough footage from the hood. See attached.  
“Frack!” Felicity exclaimed out loud as she clicked on the video. She watched her attack like an out of body experience, saw herself spray her attacker in the face and break his nose. She felt proud of herself for a split second until she saw the bow drawn and the arrow’s fletching. She’d started to run, the camera followed her path. The view moved back to the still men for a few seconds before it started moving again at breakneck speed up and over the rooftops of the Glades. “Frack I know where that is” she whispered to herself as her apartment building came into sight. She saw herself in the windows of the stairwell from the building across from hers. Then the feed cut out. Felicity exhaled deeply and sat back in her chair. The Archer knows where I live. The Archer followed me home. She spotted that there was a reply to the email under the video.  
Thanks for footage. Any idea who the girl is? Need some dirt. Heroes don’t sell column inches.  
Felicity blinked twice as that. So Susan wanted to know who she was and then drag the Vigilante through the mud. Hoping the source didn’t know her identity she checked the email address for who had sent it but it was anonymous. Not helpful. She kept on scrolling through the various emails that talked about the Vigilante, the Hood, the Archer, but no actual name. Nobody seemed to know if the Archer was Male or Female. Dammit! She stood to go to the kitchen to get a drink but before she left her room she took a long look out of the window. Her room faced the building from which the Archer had watched her. She jumped as she thought she saw something, someone, move. Nothing. What did I want? For them to be watching me? Gross. She gave herself a shake before slowly walking out of the room. Back at her desk a few minutes later with a glass of Malbec in her hand she started to copy all the information she’d found in Susan’s emails. Rough height 1.8m. Rough build muscular. How do they even know this? They probably make it all up as they go along. Still she copied it down into a folder she marked SCA “Starling City Archer”, left a tracker of Susan’s emails to alert her of any new information about her target and then called it a night. Again she found herself staring at the rooftop opposite before she drew her curtains. She slept in her headphones just in case and she didn’t hear Nyssa come home.


	4. One Thing

CHAPTER 4 – ONE THING  
Felicity sat in the Grind and Jolt café just off West Avenue on her lunch break. As she tucked into a Pastrami sandwich she reviewed the hits from the alert she’d left on Susan’s emails. Still nothing particularly useful. It seemed that Susan was only interested in this story when it was delivered to her directly. I need to find her source Felicity thought as she took a bite. Her phone dinged with a message from Nyssa asking her to pick up laundry powder. Oh my glamourous life she mused, looking out of the window. From her seat she could see the bustling street, the newspaper sellers and street vendors, I must get a pretzel on the way back to the office, people crossing the roads staring at their phones or dodging the oncomers, and Oliver with a small suitcase hailing cab. She ducked her head instinctively, hoping her wouldn’t see her and breathed a small sigh of relief when he climbed in to the car. He must be heading to the airport. Nyssa had told her earlier in the week that Oliver was going on a business trip to Central City. It had been ages since she’d been to Central and met up with her friends there, Barry, Cisco and Caitlin. What are the odds on Oliver knowing them? Pretty slim. She doubted Oliver had much occasion to socialise with scientists or CSI’s. Felicity remembered her catch up with Nyssa about her date with Oliver.  
“How did it go anyway?” she’d asked the next evening as she and Nyssa had sat at home with a bottle of wine.  
“I think I might be crazy”  
“What do you mean?” Felicity mumbled as she bit down on a cracker with a healthy coating of hummus.  
“I might be the only girl in the world who doesn’t want a third date with Oliver ‘super-hot multi-millionare’ Queen”  
“That bad huh?”  
“Oh it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good”  
“Ok I’m going to need you to talk me through it. I haven’t been on a date in…well… let’s just say a while. I haven’t been on a date in so long I don’t know what qualifies as good or bad” Felicity topped up their glasses from the bottle of Syrah.  
“Well, as you know he picked me up and then he drove us to Russo’s for dinner, which FYI is incredible, and we talked and we have nothing at all in common. Nada. Zilch. And he seemed really distracted, like he was uncomfortable and didn’t want to be there. So, he would ask me questions about myself but he didn’t even seem to be listening to the answers, like he was in his head the whole time, there was no to and fro in the conversation at all. In fact” Nyssa took a sip of her wine “the only answer he really listened to was when he asked me about you”  
Felicity almost spat her drink “What? Why? Why would he ask about me?”  
“Dunno. Asked if you were ok after Saturday, don’t worry, I didn’t tell him about the Archer incident” she assured Felicity when she’d started “I dunno. He just seemed interested in you.”  
“Weird”  
“Is it?” Nyssa looked at her “Y’know Felicity, I don’t think it’s me he wants to date.”  
“Who? Oh. Me. No. Noooo”  
“Oh come on Felicity, you’re gorgeous, why wouldn’t he want you?”  
Trying not to choke on her cracker, Felicity took a gulp of her drink. It didn’t work.  
“Ok, maybe not right now though” Nyssa laughed as Felicity grabbed a tissue.  
As she lay in bed later that evening her head reeled. There was no way that Nyssa could be right…could she? No, don’t be stupid she told herself. She couldn’t deny though that when she thought of the possibility it took her breath away. Her chest felt heavy with the thuds of her heart. She rolled over with a groan. How could he possibly be interested in her, he was always surrounded by gorgeous women. She thought back to the first time she’d looked into those piercing blue eyes. She remembered the way her heart had raced when he’d walked into her department. Was it the surprise of him being there, or something else? How her legs had frozen when they’d talked the corridor so she couldn’t move away from him. I’m going out of my mind. She imagined him being here in bed with her, wondered what he looked like out of a suit. You’re being ridiculous Felicity. Thankful that he would be taking a business trip and that she wouldn’t bump into him in the office for a while, she drifted off into Oliver-filled dreams.  
***  
Text:  
Hey Barry, how’s things in CC? Not sure if on your radar but have you heard of the Vigilante in Starling City? Uses bow and arrows as a weapon. Say Hi to Cisco and Caitlin for me.

Text:  
Felicity! Hey, great to hear from you. All good in CC, busy catching Metas. It’s so much fun! Yeah I’ve heard of your guy. Definitely not one of our guys. Is everything ok?

Text:  
Long story. Will have to arrange a CC trip to fill you in. Can you tell me anything you know?

Text:  
I can always come to Starling. So here’s what we know: Came on our radar about 6 months ago. Usually goes after corporates who are morally wrong, if not illegally. We suspect the Vigilante is male and going by the stunts we’d say late 20s? Captain Singh has been talking with SCPD Captain Lance. Singh knows a thing or two about Vigilantes…

Text:  
Oh, that’s interesting…do you know what SCPD think?

Text:  
Not much. From what I gather though they don’t like him. Makes them look bad, like they can’t do their job. Hey, you aren’t in trouble are you? I could come to Starling if you need me. I can be there in a Flash

Text:  
Lol! You’re hilarious Barry! No, not in trouble. Just want to know more about him. Let me know if you hear anything?

Text:  
Of course! Let me know if you need help. Stay safe Felicity


	5. Out Of Your Mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your supportive comments. I really appreciate you taking to time to let me know what you think.

CHAPTER 5 – OUT OF YOUR MIND

Saturday mornings belonged to Felicity. She worked Friday night’s at Verdant and this week she’d booked a cab home. Her excuse was that it was raining and it had cost her a small fortune. Cabs weren’t cheap in the Glades as none of the drivers enjoyed being out at night.

“Nyssa would you like to come to breakfast with me? I’ll pay, but I do need a favour in return.” Felicity had decided that a week on from the event, it was high time she visited the scene of her attack. She and Nyssa stood on the corner of Allen Street wrapped up in coats to avoid the November chill. “I was here, and they were…there” she swallowed as she pointed to the place where her attackers had stood.

“So then where…” Nyssa looked up, turning around “was you knight in shining armour?”

“Well, that’s why we’re here. I wanted help figuring that out. The arrows came in this way” Felicity walked across to where the attackers had stood and turned to face what would have been their backs.

“Ok…” Nyssa walked towards her “so that would mean it came from up there” She pointed to the corner of the rooftop of the warehouse to her left.  
“So how did they get up there” Felicity turned “and how do we?”

“We could take the fire escape?” 

“I don’t do climbing up the side of the buildings”

“I do. I could go?” Nyssa offered.

“Or we could break in and go up that way?” Felicity looked towards the door.

“Felicity! Are you insane?!”

“Probably, but the security on this thing is basically non-existent. It should be pretty easy” The keypad on the door was noticeably worn in 4 places. “Presuming it’s a 4 digit code and not repeated that’s about 24 combinations”

“Sorry Felicity, I must have misheard when you said it was easy” Nyssa hissed as she looked around to see of anyone was coming.

“Well everyone presses the first button harder than the others so the first number is 4”

“Ok but the other numbers you don’t know the order”

“That is very true, and I suspect I have 3 guesses before it craps out and sets of an alarm of some sort” Felicity took a step back and looked up at the sign for the company who operated the warehouse. “Oh no way. It cannot be that easy”

“What? Have you got it?”

“I think I just might” she said determinedly as she pushed the number 4587. The keypad flashed green as they heard the door unlock. “Jackpot! Come on!” Felicity grabbed Nyssa’s arm and dragged her inside. The door clicked shut behind them and locked itself.

“Ok, you have got to tell me how you did that” Nyssa whispered.

“The Company name Drake’s Electricals and Hardware Garage”

“So?”

“The initials. D is fourth in the alphabet and so on” Felicity looked around “Which way do you think the stairs are?”

“This way” Nyssa walked to the left corner “let’s be quick.”

Felicity followed the concrete steps up three stories until they reached the door leading to the roof. She froze, partly from her fear of heights and also because she didn’t know what she would find. What do I hope to find? It’s been a week. What could still be there? Nyssa pushed the door and the cool breeze hit Felicity, jolting her from her thoughts.

“Well” Nyssa stepped onto the roof “we’re here. What are we looking for?”

“I don’t know. Anything out of the ordinary I suppose”

“I feel like a Detective” Nyssa laughed

“Oh yeah. We’re a real Cagney and Lacey duo” Felicity rolled her eyes in return. She reluctantly walked closer to the edge, trying to find the spot where the Archer had stood. “Nyssa can you come over here with me”

“Everything ok?”

“Yeah I just…” she shivered “I really hate heights” Nyssa joined her as they walked the edge of the roof “Here. I think this is where they stood.” Felicity looked towards the spot where she had been a week ago. Then she turned her head to look towards her apartment building. “I want to try and walk where they did when they followed me.”

“Sorry, who followed you?” Nyssa looked confused

“The Vigilante. The Archer. Whatever they’re called. They followed me”

“How do you know that Felicity?” Nyssa sounded concerned

“The Vigilante filmed it. I saw the footage”

“How…” Nyssa started

“I hacked into the Star City Chronicle and it was in their emails” she confessed

“Are you out of your mind?!”

“Quite possibly, but you’re the one who broke into a building with me just now”

“Good point…Ok, so where are we going?”

“Over there” Felicity pointed towards the long row of building sprawled out in front of them. The two walked across the rooftops in the direction of their abode. It wasn’t too difficult as the buildings were all flat-roofed and connected and within a few minutes they had made it to their destination. Felicity noted that it hadn’t taken the Vigilante that much time.

“Now what?” Nyssa queried as Felicity stared at her bedroom window. She was recalling the night she’d looked up here and thought she’d seen someone watching her as she pulled something out of her bag. “What’s that?”

“A letter”

“Well I can see that, but what’s it for?”

“For them. Whoever they are. I want to meet them”

“You really are out of your mind” Nyssa scoffed as she watched Felicity lay the note beneath a rock. “How do you even know they’ll come back here?”

“I don’t, but it’s worth a shot”

Nyssa exhibited her disapproval with a look “Can we get off this roof now?” she asked “It’s getting quite cold”

***

Back in their apartment Felicity poured out two cups of coffee.

“So when are you hoping to meet this Vigilante?”

“Tonight”

“Tonight? That doesn’t give me much chance to talk you out of it then”

“You won’t talk me out of it” Felicity said as she sipped her coffee. She’d set herself on this a few days ago.

“But why do you want to meet them?”

“I want to know why they helped me”

“Because that’s what they do” said Nyssa firmly

“But why were they there? It seems all too convenient that they just happened to be in the right place at the right time to save me”

“Can’t you just accept it and move on? And why the note near the apartment, why not where it happened?”

“Because…” Felicity hesitated “I think they are watching me”

Nyssa almost spat her coffee. “What do you mean, watching you?”

“The night you were out with Oliver, I was looking out of the window and I thought I saw someone on the rooftop opposite”

“What time was this?” 

“Oh about ten, before you came home”

“Only just! I got back about twenty past”

“I didn’t hear you, but then” she thought back “I had my headphones on.”

“I’d have been earlier but the taxi driver got lost”

“I thought Oliver was driving?” Felicity had presumed that when Oliver had picked her up for their date.

“He drove us there, but he said he had to go back to the office after dinner so he paid for a cab, but you’re changing the subject Felicity. It’s weird that this person is stalking you”

“They’re not stalking me”

“What do you think stalking is Felicity because watching you through your window sure seems to qualify?”

“I need to get ready for work” Felicity got up and walked to her room, closing the door behind her. 

Nyssa waited until she’d left the apartment and called Oliver.


	6. Whatever Gets You Through The Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank you all for the lovely comments you've been leaving. They mean a lot and I really appreciate you taking the time.

CHAPTER 6 – WHATEVER GETS YOU THROUGH THE NIGHT

“Man it’s busy tonight” called Curtis as he shovelled ice into a tumbler.

“Uh huh” Felicity responded absentmindedly. 

“Sure would be easier if Roy was here”

“Yeah. Where is he anyway?”

“On the phone to Oliver.” 

“Is he due back soon?” Felicity surprised herself with the question. Do I care when he’s coming back?

“Don’t know. Don’t care, unless he brings in those hot girls again.” 

Felicity rolled her eyes as Roy appeared back behind the bar

“Curtis, I’ll need you to close up tonight, I’ve got to leave early” 

“Is everything ok with Oliver?” Felicity asked Roy.

“He seemed fine. Still in Central City. What’s it to you anyway Felicity? Got a little crush on our Oliver?” Roy laughed, winking at her “Has he come inside you yet?”

“Oh don’t start!” she cringed

“Nothing to do with Oliver, I’m just meeting someone after work” Roy assured her.

“Oooh anyone nice?”

“Yeah she’s great… hey, are you ok?” he touched her arm, giving her a concerned look “you’ve been distracted tonight”

“Yeah, I’m good. I am also meeting someone after work”

“Good for you Felicity. You deserve to meet a good man.. or woman”

“Ha. Thank you. Nyssa’s the bisexual, not me” Felicity turned back to the bar to serve a couple who were evidently on a date. She sighed as she tried to recall her last date. It was over a year now since she went out for a drink with Billy. He’d been very sweet but no spark. Nothing that made her heart thump so hard it almost hurt. When was the last time that had happened? When Nyssa told me about Oliver. She shook herself and carried on with her work.   
At the end of her shift she realised her hands were shaking as she put on her coat. She’d been glad of the busy night as it had taken her mind off her plan to meet the Vigilante. Will they even be there? She half hoped they wouldn’t be. She walked hesitantly towards the DEHG building and into the alley where she’d asked the Archer to meet her. She looked up towards the roof where she had stood earlier that day. So far as she could see, nobody was up there. She could see her breath as she sighed loudly but quickly lost it as a strong arm wrapped around her waist. Her instinctive scream was muffled as a her mouth was covered by a large hand. She felt her feet leave the floor and she flew upwards over the building, landing unsteadily on the flat gravelled roof. She stumbled, disoriented and breathless as her eyes regained focus on a green figure in front of her.

“Felicity” a distorted voice said. “What do you want?” it was an aggressive question and Felicity’s blood rushed in fear.

“I want….I want to know why you saved me” she asked nervously.

“Wasn’t it enough that I did?” The vigilante demanded.

“Of course. It was…incredible. But why me?”

“Because you needed help”

“How did you know I would need it though? Was it just a coincidence?” She hoped it wasn’t.

“What do you want to believe Felicity?”

The question caught her off guard and she didn’t know what say. She didn’t know what she wanted to believe. After a few seconds on cold silence she blurted “I know you’ve been watching me.” The figure in green stiffened “Why?”

“I need to know you’re safe”

“Why do you care that I’m safe?”

“Because I care about you.” There was a possessive tone in the distorted voice.

“You don’t know me…” she started but the Vigilante cut in

“I do know you but you don’t know me and you don’t want to. I’m dangerous. Stay away from me”

“And what if I don’t want to?” she said quietly, taking a step forward. The Vigilante turned they’re head away from her.

“You don’t have a choice. Stay away from me Felicity” they demanded as they drew their bow and fired across the short expanse of the alley.

“You can’t leave me up here” she panicked but she needn’t have as the Vigilante drew her close and jumped from the roof. She clung tight to the green leather and the man, yes, definitely a man, inside it. She was so close she could smell his cologne, a familiar smell. Where had she come across it before? He dropped her at the opening of the laneway and shot straight back up.

“What do I call you?” Felicity questioned.

“The Arrow… and Felicity” he called. “Don’t try to record me again.”

She ran, terrified, angry and thriving on adrenaline. She daren’t look up but she knew instinctively that she was being followed again. She stopped in the stairwell of her apartment building to catch her breath. Her brain reeled. It was going to take some time to come to terms with the meeting she accepted, as she slowly climbed the stairs. She felt very tired all of a sudden and almost jumped out her skin when she opened the door to find Nyssa sat waiting for her.

“Did you meet them?” her voice was clipped

“I did” Felicity didn’t look her in the eye

“And…?” Nyssa demanded

“And what Nyssa? He didn’t tell me anything”

“So what happened then?”

“He told me to leave him alone”

“He?” Nyssa frowned

“Yes, he”

“And are you going to leave him alone?”

“I…” she hesitated “I don’t know”

“You need to stay away from him”

“Why?! Why do I need to stay away?”

“Because it’s dangerous Felicity. How do you not see this? You’re out at 3am meeting a Vigilante who is stalking you! This isn’t like you”

“Well maybe this is who I am. Maybe I am the girl who goes out to meet the person who saved her life.”

“This is ridiculous Felicity. You’re going to get hurt”

“That’s my risk to take”

“Is it? That’s one hell of a selfish way to think about it. What about the people who care about you?”

The people who care about me? The Arrow said that he cared about me.

“I’m tired Nyssa. I’m going to bed”

“Fine! But we are not done talking about this” she said as Felicity slammed her bedroom door. Felicity pulled her phone from her bag to check the recording she’d tried to make. How did he know I was recording him? It didn’t matter. The recording had failed. Frack! She thought as she collapsed backwards on the bed.


	7. One Way Or Another

CHAPTER 7 – ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

Felicity waited for Nyssa to leave for her habitual Sunday morning visit to the Gym before exiting her room to make coffee. Yes, she knew it was childish but she just wanted to avoid a conversation about The Arrow. Hot cup in hand, she returned to her room and logged onto Susan Williams’ emails. There was nothing new but she was going to trace the sender of the video she’d seen last week. Luckily Susan hadn’t deleted it. Retrieving an IP address was easy enough but it looked as though it was being bounced from pillar to post as she highly doubted the sender was actually in Corto Maltese. _Not to worry_. She had just the programme to track the original location and she decided to take a show while it was running. The scolding water poured over her pale skin as she ran her fingers through her hair. She always had the shower hotter than most people, Nyssa had yelped a few times when Felicity had forgotten to turn it down again after she’d finished. She sighed deeply as she toured her curves with the puff, the scent of coconut emanating from her body wash. The smell made her think of the night before. It definitely wasn’t coconut she’d smelled as she’d clung to the man in leather but his scent was definitely familiar. She returned to her room hoping her trace would have finished. No such luck. It was still running when she left for her shift at Verdant. Roy called just before she was about to open the doors.

“Is everything set for tonight? How did your date go?”

“We’re all good here. He swept me off my feet. How about yours?”

“I don’t expect to be seeing her again any time soon”

“Ah sorry to hear that” Although Felicity had been surprised to hear Roy say he had been meeting a ‘she’.

The night was pretty uneventful as most Sunday’s were at Verdant and she decided to walk home. She wasn’t sure, but she felt a lot safer believing that The Arrow was watching over her.

***

Monday’s dictated lunch at Grind and Jolt and she sat in her usual window spot, staring aimlessly onto the street as she sipped her coffee. She wasn’t really taking in anything she saw as her brain whirred thinking about last night’s IP discovery. It had led her back to Starling City. No surprise there but the coordinates lead to the zip code 98114 which was close to the Starling City Police Department. _Was the video leaked by someone within the SCPD?_ She was so lost in thought she didn’t notice the tall well-dressed man who walked up behind her.

“Felicity”

She dropped her coffee and it spilled across the table onto the floor.

“Frack!” she yelled as the cup clattered to the ground.

A staff member ran over to clean up the mess as Felicity stood to face the offending person who had made her jump. Oliver was smiling down at her as she frowned.

“Let’s sit over there instead” he nodded his head to a booth in the corner before approaching a second member of staff. “We’re so sorry about the mess, here’s something for your trouble and two more cups of coffee if that’s ok?” He glanced at Felicity who still looked flustered “Maybe to-go cups would be better” he grinned. Felicity was not amused. She shuffled into the booth and Oliver followed opposite.

“Hey, I was sorry to make you jump just now”

“I thought you were in Central City?” she asked. She really wanted to know what the hell he wanted, but she didn’t feel able to be confrontational when those crystal eyes were on her.

“I was. I got home this morning.”

“Ok…” Felicity wasn’t sure what to say. “So…”

“So I have a proposition for you” his face was serious, but his eyes… were they _sparkling?_ “I would like you to come and work for me.”

The waitress handed them their coffees, she seemed to give Felicity a knowing almost admiring look. _Oh gosh, does she think we’re together?_ She turned back to Oliver.

“I don’t understand. I already work for you. Twice actually”

“Ha yes that is true. I’ve seen you drop things before, I should’ve been more careful” he was laughing, but Felicity wasn’t. She sipped her coffee hoping it would hide her blushes. “What I meant was,” Oliver clarified “I want you to come and work in my office with me. I need an executive assistant and I want someone I already know.”

“But you don’t know me.” she blurted, a confused look on her face. “I mean..” she corrected “you don’t know me very well.”

“Well, let’s change that. Tell me about yourself Felicity.” He picked up his coffee and sat back. She felt herself starting the get hot under his gaze.

“Ok…well…” she’d suddenly forgotten everything about herself.

“Where are you from?” Oliver prompted

“Vegas. I grew up in Vegas with my Mom. My Dad left when I was Seven…you didn’t need to know that” she sipped her coffee again, trying to collect herself.

“Where did you go to college?”

“MIT class of ’09 Computer Sciences and Cyber Security”

“Wow. That’s impressive. So why IT at Queen Consolidated?”

“Good question.” _Do I tell him I used to be a renowned Hacktivist? No! It will probably get me fired._ “I just decided I wanted a steady job to pay off my college debts.” _Safe answer. Well done Felicity._

“Do you like it at Queen Consolidated?”

“Yes.” Perhaps the quickness of her answer or maybe the twitch of her eye told Oliver something else as he pushed her.

“Are you sure? Anything you’d like to change?”

“Better coffee in the vending machines would be nice. And it would be great if my supervisor wasn’t a perv.” She always shuddered when she thought of Creepy Carl.

“Oh, the Vertigo guy? Yeah, I’ve been meaning to do something about him. So, what if you weren’t in the IT department anymore and you were under me?”

She almost choked on her coffee. _Under me._ Had he meant to say that? From the twinkle in his eye, yes he’d intentionally used those words.

“Why don’t we go back now and I can show you what will hopefully be your office? You don’t have to give me an answer right away but you should see the space before making a decision.”

Felicity followed Oliver through the reception of Queen Consolidated and into his private elevator. Only Oliver had the entry fob for this one and it opened directly into his office. Stood in the close quarters with him she could smell his cologne, a mix of cinnamon and leather. It was intoxicating and she had to lean against the elevator wall for support. He led her into her office, next to his, and the view took her breath away. She could see right across the city and out to the harbour. She bet that it looked spectacular at night, especially when there were fireworks on the bay.

“I have to admit, sometimes I spend a little too long gazing out there” Oliver was stood next to her, his hands in his pockets. Felicity thought he looked relaxed and very handsome. She couldn’t help but look at him instead of the view from the window. He turned his head slowly to look down at her and she felt her heart thump against her ribs.

“So what do you think Felicity? Can you see yourself up here every day?” he asked, his voice soft but with still a hint of his usual gravel.

“Well that depends Mr Queen…”

“Mr Queen? The serious name. Ok. What will it take to get you to work up here with me?” he smiled

“Three things. A better computer. That’s a dinosaur and I bet it crawls. Secondly, a fob for that elevator so I don’t have to stop on every floor on the way up.”

“Ok, I can sort those for you. What’s the third?”

“This one’s the deal breaker” she said seriously, her eyes not leaving his for a second “A really good coffee machine.”

Oliver laughed, the relief washing over his gorgeous features “Yes, Felicity we can definitely get a good coffee machine.”

“Then you’re on. I’ll come and work up here”

“I have a request too and mine is also a deal breaker” his face was serious again “never call me Mr Queen.”

“Got it!”

“Good, now go pack up your desk and come straight back” he wriggled the elevator fob off his keys and handed it to her “and you need to tell me about the look on Carl’s face when you tell him you’re moving up here.”


	8. Nice To Meet Ya

CHAPTER 8 – NICE TO MEET YA

“Nyssa!” Felicity yelled as she entered their apartment. She rushed to the kitchen to grab glasses as she called out again for Nyssa who arrived just in time to hear a loud pop and see Champagne lurch from the open bottle.

“Woah what are we celebrating?” she asked as she eyed the bottle of Dom Perignon in Felicity’s hand.

“My promotion” she handed a glass to Nyssa “I am now the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Queen Consolidated” and she clinked her glass against Nyssa’s.

“That’s amazing!” Nyssa took a sip from her glass “hang on..! Oliver is the CEO”

“Mm hmm” Felicity swallowed

“So you are going to be working within close proximity of the hottest man in Starling City every day?”

“Hey you had your chance” Felicity teased as Nyssa laughed

“Seriously though, watch yourself Felicity or that desk will be getting more than just paperwork on it”

“Nyssa that is gross”

“Is it though?”

It was all Felicity could think about as she lay in bed that night. Had she made the right choice accepting Oliver’s job offer after Nyssa had already told her that she thought Oliver had feelings for her? She had to admit that something stirred whenever he looked in her direction. Was she imagining it or did he look at her like he wanted to grab hold of her and kiss her? She wished he would. _No Felicity! He’s your boss!_

The next morning she got up earlier than she usually would and spent more time on her makeup and clothes. She settled on beige high waisted pants that synched in her stomach and a red long sleeved shirt. She undid an extra button at the top, one more than she usually would. She felt all eyes on her as she entered Queen Consolidated and headed for the CEO’s elevator instead of the stairs. As the doors opened at the top she was surprised to see Oliver there waiting with two cups of coffee in his hands.

“For you” he handed one of the cups to her

“Oliver, this is…” she lifted the coffee up to her lips and breathed in the aroma “amazing!”

“Well we had an agreement, so I’ve had a coffee machine installed” he pointed over towards the door of her office. She squealed.

“Oliver, you’re the best!”

“I’m glad I’ve made you happy”

As she looked over to him, his eyes…hunger? For her? She cleared her throat

“I should…” she pointed to her desk

“Of course. I have calls to make”

And they parted ways. Still, Felicity couldn’t help herself from peaking over at him through their glass divide and more than once their eyes met.

It was a busy morning with phone calls and emails – luckily Queen Consolidated had a robust filing and cloud system which meant she could find information easily enough. She was deep into the paperwork when the door to the office opened, not from Oliver’s side, but from the corridor. In walked a handsome dark haired man with a devilish grin.

“Hey… You’re new…I don’t think we’ve met. Tommy” he extended a hand.

Felicity shook is she flustered “Felicity. Mr Queen’s assistant.” If he didn’t remember her she didn’t see the need to remind him.

“And where…” Tommy perched himself on the edge of her desk “did Mr Queen find you?”

“The IT department”

“I’m surprised he even knows where that is”

“Me too” Felicity smiled. She had to admit that Tommy was quite charming and up close really good-looking. “What brings you in to the office today Tommy?”

“Oliver and I are old friends and he mentioned he had a new girl in his office. I wanted to come by and just check that he’s behaving himself”

Felicity could feel herself turning red

“Yes, yes of course he is” she stumbled over her words. A little voice popped into her head _I wish he wasn’t._

At that moment Oliver walked in, all 1.85 metres of handsome with a light smile on his lips and Felicity almost dropped her pen.

“Tommy! I’ll be ready to head out in about five.”

“Take your time Oliver, I’m just getting to know…” he’d clearly forgotten her name “your lovely assistant” he recovered.

“Forgive him Felicity. Tommy never was good with names” Oliver smiled at her “Just one more call and we’re good” he returned to Tommy before heading back to his desk. Felicity had trouble taking her eyes off his butt.

“Sorry Felicity, Oliver’s right I am useless with names. Pretty faces however, never forget”

_He really is a charmer._

“I’m sure you and Oliver have more than your fair share of girls with pretty faces”

“Oh very true. Although Oliver is sadly lacking when it comes to playing the field”

“That isn’t what I saw”

“Where?” Tommy had a cute confused look on his face and she realised she’d said too much

“Verdant, a few months ago. You two didn’t look short of options”

Tommy’s expression change to a look of comprehension “Coco! I told you I never forget a pretty face”

Felicity groaned. She knew he would always call her Coco from now on

“Well yeah I guess we do have a lot of followers. Oliver though, he’s not into that. I can’t even remember the last time Oliver was really interested in someone”

He’d just finished speaking as Oliver called “Tommy!”

“It was great to meet you again Coco. If I ask nicely, next time I might get your number” he winked at her as he headed towards the elevator to meet Oliver. She couldn’t hear what they were saying but she saw Tommy thumb towards her and Oliver gave her a smile. Her stomach was too full of butterflies to even contemplate lunch.


	9. That's My Girl

CHAPTER 9 – THAT’S MY GIRL

The Wildcat Gym was nothing to write home about with its grey concrete walls and it’s tattered punch bags but Felicity knew a lot of people had found a home there, a place they felt they belonged. She spotted Nyssa sparring with another woman and wandered around the edge of the space so as not to get in the way of the others practicing their martial arts. There was a loud grunt of frustration and a thud as Nyssa took her opponent to the ground.

“Damn!” exclaimed Felicity watching Nyssa offer the blonde woman she’d just floored a hand up.

“Felicity” Nyssa brushed her hair out of her face “what brings you to our little corner of the Glades?”

“This” she pointed round the room at the various training sessions going on “I want to learn to fight. To defend myself.”

“That’s a good idea considering the company you keep. Felicity is friends with the Starling City Vigilante” Nyssa turned to her blonde friend

“Is that right?” The blonde raised her eyebrows in Felicity’s direction

“She exaggerates. He saved me from being attacked”

“Well that’s a good thing. Personally I’m a supporter”

“Who is that?” Felicity asked Nyssa as her companion headed to the changing room

“Sara. She’s one of the trainers here. She’d be good at training you actually. Similar build and weight. I’ll book you in with her tomorrow if that works for you?”

“Sounds great. I finish work at 5:30”

“How is work with the delectable Mr Queen?”

“It’s difficult to get anything done when he’s in the office” Felicity admitted

“You could always do him”

“Nyssa! You are the worst!”

“What’s this?” Sara was back with them and looking curious

“Felicity works for Oliver Queen, but she’d rather work with him, if you get my drift”

“Oh I get your drift alright. He’s a good guy, you could do a lot worse”

“You know him?” Felicity asked surprised

“Yep. We grew up together. Haven’t seen him in forever though”

“You can tell Felicity all about him tomorrow. I’m signing her up for sessions with you”

“Looking forward to it already” Sara smiled at her.

“Come on, I’m finished now anyway so let’s head out” Nyssa picked up her bag

“Big Belly Burger?”

“Last one before we start training” Sara warned her

“Then I better get extra fries” Felicity laughed

**

As they waited for their order Felicity quizzed Nyssa.

“So Sara seems nice”

“She is”

“And…”

“And what?”

“Well, y’know have you asked her out yet?”

Nyssa laughed “I’ll ask her out when you ask out Oliver”

“So never then”

“Well there you go”

“But she looked like she kinda enjoyed it when you pinned her to that mat” Felicity pushed

“Maybe she did, but we work together so it’s out of the question”

Felicity phone dinged and vibrated in her pocket

“Is that lover boy?” Nyssa teased

“No, just an email”

She finished her Big Belly Burger in record time and feigned exhaustion to head to her room and logon to Susan’s emails.

Email:

_I know you’re looking for dirt but this might be interesting all the same._

Felicity clicked the video and suppressed a jump as she saw a group of armed men firing their weapons at the Arrow. He took them all down one by one in a matter of seconds before hopping onto a motorcycle. She paused the footage. _I wish I knew more about bikes._ She let the video keep playing and saw the bike head off.

“Ok…” she breathed. _First I need to figure out where this is. Looks like a traffic cam. It’ll take me months to go through all the ones in the city._

She took a still image from the video and put it through a reverse algorithm. Nothing. _Damn!_ She replayed the footage and noticed as one of the armed men stepped out he moved past a sign. It wasn’t the clearest of images but she could tell that it wasn’t English written on that sign. _Greek? Russian?_ Neither had particularly large communities in Starling so she hoped it might narrow her search. The Russian’s tended to keep to the East side of Starling so she hacked into the traffic cameras for the main intersection. The time stamp on Susan’s video indicated 12:35am that morning so if they came this way it wouldn’t too long. Sure enough the bike shot across her screen and took a sharp left. _Lucky the roads aren’t busy at that time_ she thought as the Arrow weaved from lane to lane, hardly caring what colour the lights were. _Ok he should be easy enough to track from here._ She jumped from camera to camera tracking the Arrow as he shot up Zoloman Boulevard, left on to Dorn before a quick right to head up Spivot, but he wasn’t there.

“No, no no! Dammit” Felicity smacked her hands on her desk. “Lost him!” She figured he’d skipped up a footpath or alley or something so checked a few cams around that area but nothing. She focussed her attentions back to the bike. No visible plates to run, but that would’ve been too easy. The Arrow was clearly smart. She visited a few websites of local places that sold motorbikes but she was starting to get tired. _I don’t know how the Arrow has the energy to be out all night._ She hit the hay, the bike could wait.

The following evening she made her way to the Wildcat to meet Sara for her first training session

“Will you go easy on me?”

“Not a chance. Come on, hit here” Sara indicated to the punch bag “Ok, that was not a hit, that was a tap at best. Plant your feet, keep your wrist straight and put your body behind it. It’s called Wing Chun. Good, now move your hips. That’s it, go girl!”

Felicity appreciated Sara’s encouragement as she felt very small and out of place compared to the others in the gym.

“Ok, that was your warm up” Sara said as she grabbed some pads and slip them over her hands “now we need to get you moving. Just your basic one-two left and right follow the mitts”

It had been all of ten minutes and Felicity was starting to feel exhausted. Sara must have noticed as she called a halt to the boxing.

“Have you ever lifted weights before?” she enquired

“Unless they’ve been in the shape of wine bottles and Big Belly Burgers then no” Felicity confessed

“That’s alright, we all start somewhere. Let’s start you off with a basic deadlift”

Felicity looked confused as Sara pointed to a bar on the ground.

“Isn’t it supposed to have those round things on it?”

“It will, but first you need to get your technique down pat. So we start on the empty bar”

Sara demonstrated the correct squat position and gestured to Felicity to follow her lead. A quick side glance showed her that a few of the guys in the gym were looking in their direction, but they weren’t watching her, they were eying Sara. Felicity couldn’t really blame them, Sara was gorgeous. Naturally blonde hair and toned curves in all the right places she bet half the guys in the gym could only dream of a girl like Sara.

“Good, now grip the bar and bring it just up to your knees and back down. Great job, ten reps and then we might make it heavier”

By the end of their session Felicity was lifting 20lbs and feeling quite proud of herself .

“How much do you lift Sara?”

“On a good day about 220. So you’ve got 200 to go”

“I think it might be a while. What’s that for?” Felicity pointed to the metal bars hanging from the ceiling.

“That’s a Salmon Ladder. You grab the bar on the bottom and jump the rungs”

“That looks…difficult”

“It’s just a pull up with a flourish” Sara shrugged

“Just a pull up. I can’t even do one”

“So pull ups will be our next session. You know who is great at the Salmon Ladder. Oliver”

Felicity almost spat the mouthful of water she’d just taken.

“Really? Oliver?”

“Yeah. He’s a man of many talents”

_I bet he is…_

“If you haven’t got other plans would you like to get a drink?” Sara suggested

“That sounds good. Verdant?”

**

“Felicity. What brings you in to our little dark corner on your night off?”

“I’m on a date with my personal trainer. Curtis, this is Sara”

“Felicity Smoak hitting the gym. Never thought I’d see that”

“She’s stronger than she looks” Sara assured him

Drinks in hands the girls perched themselves at a high table in the well-lit front entrance

“So Nyssa tells me you’ve got the hots for my friend Ollie”

“Ha!” Felicity laughed “She’s one to talk. She went on a date with him”

“And from what she tells me all he could talk about was you”

Felicity knew her face was bright red so she looked down at her glass of merlot.

“You should ask him out” Sara encouraged

“Um no. I could…I could never…”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s Oliver Queen”

“So what? He’s just an ordinary guy, once you get past the billionaire part” Sara laughed and Felicity laughed too. It was nice to have someone to laugh with about the fact that, like it or not, Felicity was falling for her boss.

**

“Ooooh my gosh I’m so glad I have this direct elevator” Felicity moaned to herself as she walked gingerly into her office

“You’re welcome” came a deep voice from behind her.

Felicity jumped and let out a squeal “Oliver!”

“Who else were you expecting? Tommy?”

“You scared the life out of me. And Tommy? What?” She eased herself into her chair

“Felicity are you ok?” Oliver looked concerned

“I’m fine, just…a little sore”

“From what?”

“The gym. Your friend Sara, she’s my new personal trainer”

Oliver looked relieved and laughed “I thought you’d been in trouble out in the Glades again. How did you meet Sara?”

“She works at the Wildcat Gym with Nyssa. I thought you would’ve known.”

“I must have missed that connection.”

“She said you’re quite something on the Salmon ladder”

“Hmmm” Oliver smiled “I have had some practice. I have one at home”

Felicity bit her lip, the thought of his flexing muscles filled her mind. She could hear the exhalations of breath as he pushed from one rung to the next.

“Felicity!” she snapped out of her head “You spaced out for a second. Are you thinking of me on the Salmon Ladder?”

Her jaw dropped. The way he was smiling at her he seemed to be reading her mind. He stepped forward, placing his hands on desk and not taking his eyes from hers “Perhaps I’ll show you sometime” his voice was low, quiet but firm.

Her breath caught in her throat as her heart thumped in her chest. She could hear it and she was sure that Oliver could too. She was frozen, drowning in his beautiful blue eyes when his cell phone rang. _Saved_ _by the bell._

His smile turned to a frown as he answered the call. It was brief, but enough to break their connection.

“Felicity, I have to step out for a while” and he was gone.


	10. Kill The Director

CHAPTER 10 – KILL THE DIRECTOR

Friday night at Verdant was a busy affair as usual and Felicity was grateful to Oliver giving her the afternoon of from Queen Consolidated. “You burn the candle at both ends” he’d said, “I worry about you working so much.” She’d mumbled something about it being fine as her face burned bright red.

“Tell me again how you hurt your hand?” Felicity asked Roy eyeing his scabbed knuckles.

“Fell off my motorbike” Roy replied as he poured out a glass of Chardonnay for an attractive redhead at the bar.

“What is it you ride?” Felicity was curious to know that Roy knew about Motorbikes.

“Ducati. Why? Do you like bikes?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say like but someone I know rides one so I’ve taken a bit of an interest lately”

“I’ll take you for a spin sometime”

“Felicity gets all the spinning she needs in my 6am Spin classes” a voice came from over Roy’s shoulder

“Sara!” Felicity leaned over the bar to hug her “what are you doing here?”

“I’m on a date” she grinned

“Oooh do tell! Anyone I know?”

“Well, as it happens…” she turned her head to a booth on the left and Felicity was pleasantly surprised to see “Nyssa!” she gasped.

“She said you’d know what she likes to drink, so you’d better make it two”

“Two Negroni’s coming right up…also, when she allows herself a cheat day, she loves fries dipped in Chocolate Milkshake at Big Belly Burger.”

“Good to know” Sara smiled as she took the drinks from Felicity. “Oh, I almost forgot, Nyssa told me to tell you something like it’s your turn, whatever that means” and she walked back to Nyssa who was texting on her phone. Felicity’s buzzed in her pocket

_Nyssa: Now you ask out Oliver next time you see him_

_Felicity: Ok great, so I’ve got 48 hours to kill myself_

She looked over towards her friends and saw Nyssa whispering into Sara’s ear before Sara reached into her bag and pulled out her cell.

“Hey Blondie!”

Felicity snapped her head back to the bar and frowned.

“Rene, you know that’s not my name”

“Yeah but you’re blonde ain’t you?”

She rolled her eyes and smiled “Your usual?”

“You know it”

“How’s that super smart daughter of yours?”

“She’s great, told me to tell you she get 84 on her math test”

“That’s brilliant!” she leaned across the bar and embraced Rene, much to his surprise.

“Woooah Blondie. This is the wrong way round, I should be hugging you. There’s no way I could have got her through it with all that Trigonometry stuff”

“Well it’s my pleasure. She’s a bright young woman and a pleasure for me to tutor”

“I’m surprised you find the time what with working here and with all those fancy pants up at Queen Consolidated”

“I will always find time for Zoe. And the fancy pants aren’t all that bad”

“Well, you don’t find them down here in the Glades all that often”

There was a small cheer over towards the front door which drew Felicity’s attention and she did a double take.

“Well Rene, you’re wrong on that front” and gestured towards the throng that surrounded the two well-dressed men who’d just entered. They watched them make their way down by the side of the club towards the two ladies in the booth.

“I’m going to kill them” Felicity muttered

“You alright Blondie? You’ve gone pale. And that’s saying something considering you’re about as white as a white person can be”

“I’m all good Rene, just that my lovely friends” she emphasised the last word “have invited Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn to join them tonight”

“Man, I hate those guys”

“They’re not that bad, I just didn’t expect to see them”

None of the group had looked over, which she thought she would be glad for as her stomach was doing somersaults but she couldn’t help but want for Oliver to look her way. _He knows I’m working tonight._

“Felicity, can you head out the Back Bar and see if we’ve got any more Absinthe? Got a run on Sazerac’s” Roy called over.

“On it boss” she replied and headed out from behind the bar and down to the basement, glad to be out of the main club.

“What a set up” she said to herself as she scanned the shelves for the bottle of La Clandestine “I’m going to kill both of them.”

“Please don’t. You wouldn’t like the coffee in Iron Heights, plus it’ll take forever to find another Assistant as good as you”

Felicity almost fell into the rack as her legs buckled at the sound of Oliver’s low, gruff, yet gentle voice.

“Frack! You scared the….well frack out of me!” she complained as she turned to face him

He took a few long strides towards her as she froze to the spot, her back to the multi-coloured bottles and before she could breathe, he was in her space, his arm next to her head as he leaned onto the shelf behind her. She swallowed hard, unintentionally pushing her chest against him.

“Nyssa said you had something you wanted to talk to me about” His voice was low, almost a whisper. His eyes were twinkled malevolently as he gazed down at her. _Is he even taller than usual? And more muscular?_ She felt his light grip on her hip, sending icy shock waves all over her body.

“I um…I…” she stuttered.

“I would like to take you out to dinner”

“You…what?”

“Dinner. I want to have dinner with you”

“I…” she couldn’t finish what she was going to say. His lips were devastatingly close to hers, his eyes still sparkling. She felt her eyelids start to droop and a deep longing sensation beneath her black skirt.

“Oliver!”

Felicity jumped as Roy appeared at the bottom of the staircase. Oliver hadn’t moved. He was still blocking her with his body, his presence an intoxicating mix of excitement and dread. He slowly turned his head to Roy as Felicity looked away, her cheeks flushed.

“There’s been an incident. You might want to see”

Oliver turned his head back to Felicity, his hand moving gently to her cheek “Is that a yes to dinner?”

Barely able to speak Felicity murmured her assent as his eyes fixed on her. A small curve formed at the side of his mouth for just a moment before he turned and walked over to Roy.

“Show me….Also Felicity won’t be coming to work tomorrow. I’m taking her out for dinner. Owner’s privilege. I’ll pay double to whoever covers her shift” he passed Roy and shot up the stairs. Roy glanced over to her, his expression a mix of surprise and humour.

“A date with the boss huh?”

“Roy!” Oliver growled from out of sight.

Roy winked at her before he too disappeared up the staircase “Don’t forget the Absinthe!” he called down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being so patient waiting for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.


	11. When The Lights Go Out

CHAPTER 11 – WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

Felicity’s sleep had been unsettled. The rest of her Friday night shift had gone by in a blurred haze. Nyssa, Sara, Oliver and Tommy had all left by the time she had emerged from the basement and as far as she was aware, she was alone in the apartment now. She poured herself a steaming hot coffee and scrolled through the Starling City Sentinel on her cell.

“Six teenagers have been charged over a brawl at an entertainment complex. Seven police officers were left with minor injuries in the disorder at Starling City on 23 November”

“A fire at Starling City Amusement Park, occurred at midnight.”

This caught Felicity’s eye. _Hmm, that’s about the time Roy came in and_ … her thoughts flew back to Oliver and his strong form towering over her. _But what would this have to do with Oliver?_ She surmised that he probably owned shares or something in the company who ran the park. Oliver remained in her thoughts as she turned on the shower and stepped in. She let the hot water cascade over her head and onto her breasts as her memory of Oliver consumed her. She let her fingers circle her nipples, hard despite the temperature in the shower and lowered them further, past her navel and down to her smooth folds.

***

Feeling refreshed in more ways than one, Felicity sat at her desk, typing precisely as she hacked into Billy Malone’s computer. She’d been meaning to hack the SCPD for a few weeks and now as she needed her mind taken off her impending date with Oliver, she’d decided this was as good a time as any. On that one date with Billy she’d assessed, correctly as it turned out, that he was a logic man rather than a creative, which meant his password was far easier for her system to crack than any trusting member of the public would presume it to be. From here it was simple enough to get into the SCPD logs and track any ongoing investigations.

_Ok, Starling City Theme Park. Let’s take a look at you_

Arson. No casualties. _Well, it was late at night_. 80% of the park was damaged and 70 fire trucks. _Damn_. Different parts of the amusement park were also noted to have been set ablaze simultaneously. Suspected disgruntled employees. "Starling City is dying", graffiti before the fire. Reported sighting of “The Hood”. Unconfirmed. No CCTV visuals. _Ugh. Pointless._

***

“What do you think?” Felicity stepped gingerly out of her room. She was wearing a silver halter neck camisole that sparkled elegantly as it dropped just below her knees.

“Damn! If I was gay, I’d totally go for you…oh hang on…” laughed Sara.

“I’ll take that as the ultimate compliment”

“You look amazing Felicity” agreed Nyssa, as she helped her with a silver rose link bracelet.

“Is it weird?”

“Is what weird?” Nyssa crinkled her brows

“That I’m going on a date with Oliver and you went on a date with Oliver. Is it weird?”

“Of course not! He only went on a date with me to be polite and like I told you, he talked about you the entire time. This was inevitable.”

“Hardly inevitable. I could have turned him down”

Sara scoffed on her drink and Nyssa let out a loud “Ha!”

“What?! I could have”

“Ok Felicity, if it makes you feel better to think that” chuckled Nyssa, handing her a glass of Prosecco.

Felicity downed in one. Nyssa swapped the empty glass for her freshly poured one.

“Steady on girl” warned Sara

“I’m just so fracking nervous”

“Is it going to be awkward at work if you two, y’know, bom chicka wow wow?” Sara grinned

“Yes, very, so no we won’t be doing any of that…Hey!” she exclaimed as she saw Sara & Nyssa raise their eyebrows to one another. Over the volume of their raucous laughter the intercom sounded.

“Frack!” Nyssa beat her to the speaker and invited Oliver up “I was going to meet him downstairs”

“Oh but we don’t want to miss this” Nyssa mocked as a gentle knock reverberated.

_Just breathe…_

“Hi” Felicity said weakly as she opened the door. _Wow he looks…incredible._ She swallowed hard but her throat was dry. Oliver’s eyes slowly trailed over her from head to toe. He smiled before looking over her shoulder.

“Ladies” he acknowledged the two friends at the kitchen island

“Have fun you two” Nyssa winked as Felicity stepped out of the apartment and closed the door behind her.

“Felicity, you look amazing” She tucked a loose strand behind her ear nervously.

“Thank you. So do you”

Oliver opened the door to the car for her & she shuffled in. He joined her on the other side.

“Felicity, this is my associate, John Diggle” he gestured towards the man in the driving seat. “John, this is Felicity.” The man lifted his dark eyes to the rear view mirror and gave her a simple nod. A cold nod. _He’s probably introduced to a new girl of Oliver’s each week_. “Felicity is my Executive Assistant” Oliver continued. This seemed to change something slightly as the driver spoke as he pulled into traffic.

“I’ve heard a lot about you Ms Smoak”

“Oh Felicity, please.” _He’s heard about me…_

“I’ve made a reservation for us at Culprit. Have you been there before?” Oliver asked

“No. I’m usually more of a Big Belly Burger girl.” John Diggle laughed.

“Oliver has never been to Big Belly Burger” he revealed

“Oh that’s not true, he must have” she replied and turned to look at Oliver and knew instantly that John was telling the truth. “Oh Oliver… How can you not have had a Big Belly Burger?”

He shrugged “Well I guess I’ll have to change that. Big Belly Burger will be our second date then”

John coughed gently as her eyes widened. _A second date. The first one had barely even begun_. She turned her head to look out of the window to hide her blushes. Once at Culprit, John helped her out of the Limo and Oliver took her hand. She gripped it firmly to steady her nerves, especially as one or two photographers were outside the front door. She put her head down and allowed him to lead her through the door. A quick tip to the Maître D and they were led right through the restaurant, weaving past the other diners to a darkened booth. They had barely gotten comfortable when a dozen oysters were placed in front of them.

“Wow” Felicity breathed “Is it always like this for you?”

“Like what?” Oliver looked bemused

“So, elegant and…efficient”

“Well…people tend to be efficient when you’re a generous tipper, and as for elegant, you’re the most elegant person in the room” he scanned the restaurant, finishing by looking at her. She reached for an oyster to distract herself from his gaze. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you Felicity, away from the office and away from the prying eyes of our well-intentioned but somewhat inquisitive friends”

She laughed “I’m surprised this place isn’t bugged. Although, that would save me a lot of time when I get home and have to answer all of the questions… So” she turned to look at him properly “what would you like to know?”

“Ok, um…tell me about your childhood in Vegas. What's something you always wanted to do as a child but never got to do?”

Felicity was impressed that he had remembered she was from Nevada. “Space Camp. I really really wanted to go to space camp. I think I was 9. I dreamed of being an astronaut.”

“And why didn’t you go?” He seemed genuinely interested.

“We couldn’t afford it. My mom is a waitress and my dad is…” her voice trailed away before she finished the sentence firmly “gone. He left when I was young.”

“I’m sorry”

“Don’t be. Mom and I were great all on our own. My mom is so strong, she’s my idol.”

“I’d love to meet her sometime” Oliver’s eyes were again burning into her and she sipped her Sidecar. When she finally returned his look, a smile curled at the side of his mouth and he gently reached out a hand towards her. She froze as his thumb grazed the side of her mouth. “Sugar” he said, raising the tip of his thumb to his lips and sucking the sweet crystals. His eyes didn’t leave hers for a second and Felicity felt as though all the air had gone from the room. He leaned towards her again and her eyes dropped to his soft lips surrounded with just the right amount of stubble to be sexy. And then they were joined. His kiss was soft and gentle, his hand reached up to caress her cheek. He pulled away slightly after a couple of seconds and looked at her again, as if to silently ask if she was ok. Felicity responded by closing the gap between them once again as she pressed her mouth on his. A few more minutes of what Felicity hoped would be never ending kisses broke with Oliver gently suggesting they order some food. Her stomach groaned in response and she blushed again. She opted for the Duck Breast served with a peach sauce whilst Oliver plumped for the Beef Tartare.

“And a bottle of Laurent Perrier. Thank you, Joff”

“You come here so often you know the staff?”

“I like to make an effort to know the names of the people I have on my payroll”

“Of course. I don’t even know why I’m remotely surprised you own this place too” Felicity sat back with a sigh

“I like to spread my portfolio around. It makes sense in business to not have all your eggs in one basket”

“Very true. So where else do you have your eggs?”

“Ha! Some of my other baskets are a little restaurant in Central City, Amarasia Oasis, Forbidden Fruit Cake Shoppe in DC, Alessandro’s in Gotham, the Upswipz App and Poison, Max Fuller’s old place. I’ve been trying to buy a very cool nightclub in LA with a gorgeous penthouse right above, but the owner isn’t keen to sell. If you’re ever in LA it’s definitely worth a visit.”

“How do you find the time to run all of this stuff as well as Queen Consolidated?”

“Well, I don’t. I own them, or part of them. I don’t run them. I have excellent managers. You don’t get a dog and bark yourself.” He sipped his champagne lightly. “Does that make me sound arrogant?”

“A little… but also, you’ve clearly worked hard and you deserve to be proud”

“Thank you. Helps that I’m a night owl. I don’t really need a lot of sleep.”

Was it the lights or was there a definite twinkle in his eye? Dinner ended with a salted caramel mouse & poached apples.

“Mmmm” Felicity moaned at the first bite. “This is incredible” She caught Oliver who looked at her in hungry amusement “Too much?”

“Not at all. Mind if I try a bite?” She pushed the dish towards him as he swapped it for his crème brulee. “Oh yeah… I see what you mean. This is the best. I have to go and mention it to Sterling, the Chef. I will be right back.” He slid towards her and kissed her deeply before departing. On his way to the kitchen he stopped Joff, the waiter and seemed to be ordering something else for them. _I hope it’s not more food. It’s incredible but I don’t think I could have another bite._ Felicity was in luck. It was another couple of cocktails that arrived just as Oliver did.

“You look beautiful tonight Felicity”

“Thank you. I mean, so do you. Like incredible. Hottest guy in the room. On the planet. I’ll shut up” she took a gulp of her drink as Oliver laughed.

“The whole planet huh? I’ll take that” Felicity snuggled in closer towards him, breathing in the scent of Cedar and Amber from his cologne mixed with the citrus from his drink. His hand gently grazed her thigh as he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her near for another kiss. She moved closer to him, wanting to show her consent, allowing him to keep his hand on her leg. He began to gently gather up the skirt in his fingers, raising it higher as she groaned her approval. Felicity slid her hand from Oliver’s strong chest, lower towards his waistband, lower still to rest on his hard bulge. She felt as well as heard his acquiescence at her contact. His hand rose to between her legs which she parted gently for him to caress. The sounds of the restaurant were lost now & she was grateful for the dimly lit space as his finger softly stroked her panties.

“Mr Queen” a deep voice came from above them. “Mr Queen” the voice more demanding now as Oliver and Felicity snapped out of their embrace. “Mr Queen, there’s been an incident at Merlin Global. There’re flames.”

“Tommy” Oliver ran his fingers through his hair, his face visibly pale even in the dark room. “Tommy” he repeated. “Felicity I have to…”

“I’ll come with you” she insisted.

“No. Whatever it is it’ll be too dangerous. Felicity I’m so sorry, I’ll get Joff to call you a cab. I have to go.” He kissed her again “I’m so sorry. I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow”

One more kiss and he was gone with Dig.


End file.
